My story begins long before I was born. My mother’s grandfather ran away from his Jewish family in Riga, Poland, and after a series of adventures arrived penniless in London, then converted to Christianity. That side of the family lived in Ilford. My father lost his mother at a very early age, and was brought up by his Aunt and Uncle in East Ham. Both my parents lived through the War years as teenagers, and when my father was eventually called up he became a “Bevan Boy” and mined coal in Lancashire. After the war he went to what was then Persia to earn enough to marry my mother and set up home in Sutton. They and their families were part of a very devout and true Christian group who kept themselves apart from the outside world, and that was the environment I arrived into on 28th October, 1957. The Silver Cross pram shows they wanted the very best for me. The funny thing was, they did not listen to the radio so we had no idea of the other significant event going on - the birth of the Today Programme.
Showing posts with label Radio 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio 4. Show all posts
Monday
Before I was Me
My story begins long before I was born. My mother’s grandfather ran away from his Jewish family in Riga, Poland, and after a series of adventures arrived penniless in London, then converted to Christianity. That side of the family lived in Ilford. My father lost his mother at a very early age, and was brought up by his Aunt and Uncle in East Ham. Both my parents lived through the War years as teenagers, and when my father was eventually called up he became a “Bevan Boy” and mined coal in Lancashire. After the war he went to what was then Persia to earn enough to marry my mother and set up home in Sutton. They and their families were part of a very devout and true Christian group who kept themselves apart from the outside world, and that was the environment I arrived into on 28th October, 1957. The Silver Cross pram shows they wanted the very best for me. The funny thing was, they did not listen to the radio so we had no idea of the other significant event going on - the birth of the Today Programme.
Saturday
Last Post (in this Blog anyway)
This Blog was created at the request of BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, and although the original purpose was to provide them with material for the BBC web site, it was good fun to do. It reminded me of many of the details of life that I had forgotten, it made me find some answers to some very old questions (like what was that Dish for?) and best of all, it has enabled me to contact some very old and dear friends.
If you arrived at this point via the BBC web site you will know that there are about a dozen other Today50 Bloggers, and we were rewarded with an invitation to the BBC's own 50th Birthday party. Here are a few of us with John Humphries and James Naughtie.
This photo makes it look like we are the only ones there but in fact there were many hundreds of guests (most a lot more famous than us), and the photo opportunity was snatched in the few seconds that we were allowed John Humphries attention, before he was rudely dragged away by one of the many lobbyists that were taking advantage of the occasion. The hand on my shoulder belongs to the politician on my right. I tried to explain that that sort of thing was not obligatory outside of politics but it didn't seem to make any difference. This whole project has also been a learning experience about the BBC and media relations - not all positive unfortunately, but all of it valuable. I'm glad I did it.
THE END
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